After a decade of delaying the playing of the final table till November, the World Series of Poker’s final-table play will begin tonight after three-day break. The field includes five Americans, two from France, and one each from England and Argentina. The finalists came out of a field of 7,221. The players’ ages are 25, 25, 26, 28, 32, 33, 34, 42, and 64, putting the average age at 30.9, the third year in a row with an average over 30, though not by much.
Following are the chip counts for each player and the current odds on each to win (from the Westgate Super Book).
Scott Blumstein 97,250,000 +200
John Hesp 85,000,000 +400
Benjamin Pollak 35,175,000 +500
Bryan Piccioli 33,800,000 +650
Dan Ott 26,475,000 +1200
Damian Salas 22,175,000 +1400
Antoine Saout 21,750,000 +1000
Jack Sinclair 20,200,000 +1800
Ben Lamb 18,050,000 +1200
As is usually the case, the favorites are the players with the highest chip counts. Blumstein’s is the highest starting stack in final-table history; however, he has only a slight lead over Hesp. Both Lamb and Saout are back for their second Main Event final table and the odds reflect their perceived skill and experience advantage.
The first-place finisher will win $8.15 million and all nine finalists will take down at least $1 million. You can watch the entire match live (with a 30 minute delay in the broadcast) beginning tonight on ESPN at 6 p.m. PST. We’ll post updates in “Vegas News.”
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